Listening
by hoarfrosted
Summary: Interactions. Refia and Luneth bond over shared secrets in a less than amicable manner.


"Get away from me!" Refia shrieked as she burst through the foliage, sprinting along the dirt path leading to the Nautilus. Her heart ricocheted in her chest, the pounding in her ears nearly drowning out the sounds of her pursuer's heavy footsteps chasing after her. Her breath came out in short, ragged bursts, her calves were beginning to ache from the sudden stress, and the fear suffocating her being tightened its hold on her.

The annoyance surrounding her became palpable at the sound of her silver-haired shadow's laughter.

"I'm serious, Luneth, cut it out!" she chanced a look behind her to see Luneth hot on her heels, a vexatious grin slapped on his face. What mainly caught her focus was the foul, green _beast_ clutched in his gloved hand, looking completely innocent and bored in its devious position. She nearly retched at the site of the creature, gagging dramatically.

That bit of drama turned out to be her unfortunate downfall, as seconds later she tripped on a puff of air, landing in a heap on the dirt road, a cloud of dust flowing around her. Luneth, not expecting the folly and running too quickly to stop, tripped over the prone girl. He flew a few quick inches before tumbling on the ground, losing his grasp on his torture device. Said toad merely hopped away nonchalantly, not sparing the two teens another glance.

Refia groaned as she lifted her dirt-smudged face, eyes aflame with rage and directed at her still giggling _ally_. She stood quickly, muttering unpleasant words under her breath while she brushed the dirt from her clothes, gaze still on the boy who was now clutching his aching sides because _it was so damn funny._

"What in the world is wrong with you!" she ran her fingers through her hair furiously, knowing it was a dusty mess. Luneth stood slowly, laughter dying down and wiping actual tears from the corners of his eyes. Refia never wanted to hit something so badly. Her fist was _literally shaking_ from effort it took not to lunge and strike the buffoon.

"Odin, that was hilarious!" he pointed at Refia as his laughter bubbled up again, nearly doubling over. "You should've seen your face! You were all," he proceeded to make an overwrought face of panic which most definitely did _not_ resemble her in any way, shape or form before returning to his fit of giggles.

Giving up on tidying her hair, she decided to halfway indulge herself as she stomped up to him, giving him a hard shove. As she was a sight smaller than him and not the strongest, the push did do nearly as much as she would have liked, only making Luneth stumble back a few steps, not that he seemed to notice at all. She growled under her breath and crossed her arms, walking past him silently to continue on to the ship.

Luneth ceased his laughter, sensing her more than dower mood. "Aww, come on! How could you not think that was funny?" he placed a hand on her arm, which she immediately shook off before turning to him, scowl firmly in place.

"How many times have I told you that I _hate_ toads?" she asked, knowing exactly how many times she had mentioned her dislike of the animal. She had complained plenty – as she could tell from Desch's repeated irritated sighs – when they had to transform to swim through the passage in the Tower of Owen. And all those disgusting things they had to wade around in the lower levels of the tower had earned plenty of gagging noises from her.

Clasping his hands behind his neck, Luneth gave a thoughtful look up to the cloudy blue sky, honestly thinking about the amount he'd heard her complain. "Umm…I think you mentioned it like, twice while we were in that tower," he nodded, sure of himself.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously and her frown grew. "I told you guys like, a million times! Why do you think I kept complaining every time we saw those things?" Luneth tilted his head, trying to recall any more of her grumblings about the animals, but shook head after a minute or so.

"Nah, don't remember. I kind of tune you out most of the time anywho," he said with a shrug, as if it were the most natural thing on the continent. Refia pulled a scandalized face, placing her hands on her hips haughtily with a fierce glare to the boy.

Luneth winced at the look, "What? It's not my fault! You remind me of Nina," he relayed, thinking back to the numerous times the woman had lectured him after any wrong-doing. The intensity of the redheaded girl's glare didn't lessen any, and he had to look away from her. "What's your deal with toads anyway?"

"They're so…_creepy_!" she finally turned away from to rub at the goose bumps forming on her forearms. "They're such a gross color, they're always slimy and bumpy looking, their mouths do that weird bulgy thing," she mimicked the action by placing her hand on her throat and curling it oddly, making Luneth vaguely afraid that she would vomit. "And their tongues…," she halted for a moment, shivering and trying to shake the images from her head.

When she was better – to Luneth, at least – she continued, almost as if she were talking to herself. "Once, when I was little, Takka and I went to this little pond near Kazus. There were a bunch of those things there, just…_eating bugs_," she said, her voice growing more and more grave. "And then, one of the bugs landed on my face, and I was going to get off…but one of the toads…its tongue…," she gagged audibly, holding her stomach tightly.

Luneth grimaced and rubbed her back soothingly, able to piece together the rest of the story. He might've been a little adverse to them as well if one decided to eat dinner on his cheeks. The image was comical when he pictured it, and he snorted in an attempt to hold back more giggles.

However, Refia still heard the small sound, recovering instantly with her glare back in place, remembering her previous fury. Luneth held up his hands in surrender, grinning sheepishly. "I'm sorry, but you have to admit, that's kind of funny, in a…scarring sort of way."

She only shook her head before smiling at him, something too innocent to _not_ be sinister. "That's fine," she said in a pleasant voice not at all her own. "You know what else is 'kind of funny'?" she took a step closer to him, making him instinctively take a step back.

"Uhh, no?" he replied while rubbing the back of his neck, hoping his voice didn't convey the nervousness that he felt from Refia's suddenly accommodating disposition. "What else is?"

She dropped a hand on his shoulder, sweet smile still in place. "Oh, just something Arc and I were talking about." That was the only warning he got before one of her nimble fingers gripped the shell of his ear, tugging it downward with a type of strength that only came from rage. Luneth yelped and flailed helplessly before gripping the offending wrist, attempting to pull away from his poor, sensitive ears, but stopped when Refia increased her vice-like grip, making him clench his eyes to ward of the pain signals.

"Does _this_ remind you of Nina?" she yelled into his ear, scowl back in its place, before stomping down the road with Luneth's ear still firmly in her grasp, dragging along the whimpering boy. He couldn't help but be reminded of all of the times Nina had scolded him after a particularly bad acts of delinquency. He was always sure she'd yank his ear clean off while she dragged him back home for his punishment, lecturing him all the while.

Luneth was going to _kill_ Arc.


End file.
